Sapporo -- The Bears and Swallows have reportedly agreed to a deal that will send SP Riyohei Kiya to the Bears in exchange for SP Yuki Hura, OF Tetsuya Ajibana, and OF Eikyu Kusama. This trade provides a 6th starter for the Bears, to take Kiriu's spot as after his preseason outing, the Bears determined he was not ready for the 1st string squad. The Swallows have designated all three of their acquisitions to their 2nd string squad but they could provide an excellent source of depth as the season progresses. Scouting reports are listed for all 4 players involved in the deal below.

SP Ryohei Kiya, R/R, 26 years old, 4 years pro, 149/D(53)/C(62)/CUT(3)/SFF(5)Kiya is an excellent acquisition here for the Bears, as they were looking to strengthen their rotation. Kiya has a dominant splitter, in addition to a plus cutter. His stamina won't take him to many complete games, but he is capable of going the distance here and there.

SP Yuki Hura, R/R, 23 years old, 5 years pro, 138/D(53)/C(61)/CHG(2)/HSNK(3)According to the Bears scouts, Hura has already entered his prime, so it's not likely we will see much development from him. The Swallows management thought otherwise though, and they look to see huge improvements out of the 23-year-old as he will surely compete for a spot in the rotation in the future.

OF Tetsuya Ajibana, L/R, 26 years old, 4 years pro, 1/E(49)/C(61)/E(45)/E(43)/F(32)/D(58)Ajibana is clearly not much of a loss for the Bears. At this point in his career, it may be too late for Ajibana to develop into the power threat the Bears originally hoped he would be, but he still has the power to hit some here and there. The Swallows highest hopes for him is to be a guy that can hit 10 homers and bat .250 if they ever need him to start.

OF Eikyu Kusama, L/R, 24 years old, 2 years pro, 2/E(45)/D(56)/C(69)/E(46)/D(50)/D(53)It is currently unclear as to how Kusama is going to develop. Other than his speed, nothing really stands out about his game. Sure, his power is solid and he could leave the yard occasionally, but he isn't going to do it often enough to be considered a power hitter. He doesn't have much time left to develop either, so if he wants to become a starter, he better have a late growth spurt and the Swallows are going to want to see signs of his contact and defense improving heavily.

Saitama -- Tonight was supposed to be a pitcher's duel, to showcase two of the best arms in Japan facing off head to head, in Hideaka Wakui and Sora Maeda. Unfortunately, we did not see anything remotely close to that. We saw a Bears defense struggle immensely en route to an early exit from Sora Maeda as Wakui pitched above average early. The Lions went down quickly in the first after a single from Asamura. However, in the second, Hiroyuki Nakajima doubled, and Kurihara reached on an error by the rookie shortstop, Anderson Maluco. Then with one out, Hoshi singled home Nakajima. Fujita then grounded out to short for the second out, with a 1-0 score. Then Kumichi looked to end the inning on a grounder to short, but this one was muffed by Maluco for his second error to prolong the inning. 5 straight hits would bring in 6 more runs for the Lions to put up a 7-run 2nd inning before the bleeding stopped.

The Bears looked to bounce back in the third, and did to an extent, as Koyano Shin was able to belt a 2-run double to reduce the gap to 5. However, the Lions had another good inning in the third, as Fujita homered and Kuriyama scored Kumichi on a single to extend the lead to 9-2, as Maeda would exit after 2 and 1/3 innings. The Bears were able to put up 1 run in the fifth as Ryosei Dan capped off a rally that included 4 straight singles.

Miyaguni shut the door on the Lions as he pitched 3 and 2/3 innings of shutout ball out of relief, racking up 8 K's with his slider that seemed to be sharper than Excalibur today. In the eighth, the Bears heated up. A lead off single by Dan was followed by a double from Cody Kerb, and Einishi flew out but sacrificed Dan in, 9-4. The next batter, Michizono stepped in with confidence brewing and slugged a 2-run bomb, the deepest of the night to right center field. That bomb knocked Wakui out of the game, and in came Gonzalez, the setup man, for the Lions. Mark Wiseman followed suit and smashed a solo homer on the first pitch to cut the lead to 9-7. The next batter, Yamato, slapped a double to right center, as the Bears seemed to have all the momentum with one gone in the 8th. Rudy Chirk would follow with a hard single however, Yamato would not score. Maluco, looking to make up for his 2 errors earlier lined to left field and scored Yamato on the sacrifice making it 9-8. Shin was unable to get it done however flying out to left to end the 8th.

In the Lions half of the 8th inning, the Lions felt pressured to get some insurance runs and Hiroyuki Nakajima did just that leading off the inning with a solo bomb to left off of the southpaw, Ryo Hidaka. Hidaka would retire the next three, but he made the comeback even less probable, 10-8 going into the 9th. In the ninth, Dan lead off with a soft dribbler to second and was retired facing the closer, Koishi. The next batter, rookie, Cody Kerb bashed a solo bomb to deep center field to cut it to 10-9. The Bears were so close to making the impossible happen, coming back from a 7-run deficit to win. Einishi stepped into the box and swung at a bad pitch grounding out to short, 2 down. Michizono stepped into the box, feeling great after smashing a 2-run shot earlier, looking to be the Bears hero. Michizono puts the ball in play, a hard ground ball to third. However, the pesky Hiroyuki Nakajima scooped it up and tossed it over to the first baseman to make the out and end the valiant comeback effort, Lions win, 10-9.

Sapporo -- The Sapporo Bears, after the three game losing streak to open the season, have decided to reach into America and sign former minor league outfielder, Roger Cranpton. Fresh off a strong season in AA, Cranpton was not able to find a contract with another team after being cut by the Colorado Rockies and he was looking for a deal in Japan to continue playing. The Sapporo Bears have given him a chance. Cranpton reportedly agreed to a 2 year deal worth $10M in total. The Bears hope this signing will pay off as they look to cycle him into their lineup here and there. A detailed scouting report is added below.

OF Roger Cranpton, R/R, 24 years old, Rookie, 2/E(46)/D(53)/C(69)/C(65)/D(56)/D(59)Cranpton's weakest tool is definitely his contact. He batted .240 at the AA level, which is according to many analysts, comparable to NPB pitching, so that may be the way he translates. He smashed 9 homers last season, and stole 42 bases. His speed is good, but not great for Japan. He has a semi-decent arm, and average fielding skills. Overall, Cranpton is pretty much a replacement level player, but the Bears hope that he provides good role playing.

Sapporo -- The Bears went with a different kind of lineup today giving veterans Ryosei Dan and Koyano Shin the day off, and it seemed to pay off well. Game Moriss also pitched a gem which contributed to the solid effort from the Bears.

The Bears got it going in the bottom of the first with 3 straight singles by Maluco, Imagawa, and Kerb, and a 2-run double by Michizono. The game continued with the same scoreless pace for a long time, all the way up until the bottom of the sixth when the Bears added to their lead. In the sixth, Imagawa singled, Michizono singled, and rookie Guhan Kira drove in Imagawa on a single to make it 4-0. The Eagles looked ready to strike in the 7th after back-to-back-to-back singles by Masuda, Yokogawa, and Makida. Moriss limited the damage by only allowing one to score on a Hijirisawa single. 4-1 after 7. In the bottom of the eighth, the Bears reinforced their lead with a sacrifice fly from Kira and an RBI double by Kamo. The Bears would hold on to win as Gabe Moriss finished his CG in the ninth, 6-1, for their first win of the season.

Sapporo -- The Bears went out and played an all-around solid game today. Maeda's pitching was great, and the lineup did a very good job at getting base runners, but the run production could have been a lot better.

Bears fans were nervous that Maeda was going to have another shaky start as he had given up 2 runs on 5 hits through 3 innings, but he settled right into a solid groove after the third and rode it the rest of the night. The Bears got things going in the 4th with a single by Koyano Shin, a double by Ryosei Dan, and a sac fly by Cody Kerb to cut the lead to 2-1. Then Dan scored on a passed ball with Guhan Kira at the plate to tie the game. The Bears were held scoreless until finally in the 8th, Shin and Dan singled back-to-back, and Cody Kerb scored Shin on an RBI single to take the 3-2 lead. Sari Harnish would come in and shut the door in the ninth to earn his first save of 2016. Bears win, 3-2.

Sapporo -- The Bears finally woke their bats up tonight, and they looked very good. Gabe Moriss also had another strong outing tonight, going 7 innings and recording the win.

The scoring started for the Bears in the first as Yanagita doubled to lead off the first and Maluco singled. He then stole second and Shin grounded out and scored Yanagita. The next batter, Ryosei Dan hit a sac fly and made it 2-0. In the 3rd, the Bears got right back to banging. Hakeyama led off the inning with a walk, and then Michizono, Iwao, Yamato, and Yanagita singled, scoring 2 in that span. Koyano Shin also hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 5-0. In the fourth, Yanagita and Maluco singled, and Shin hit another sacrifice fly to make it 6-0.

In the top of the sixth, the Whalers woke up with a 2-run bomb by Joben Nagano on a mistake pitch by Moriss. But the Bears answered in the bottom half of the sixth with 2-out singles by Yanagita, Maluco, and Shin, and a 3-run jack by Ryosei Dan, making it 10-2. In the top of the seventh, the Whalers got 3 singles, including an RBI single by Matsubare Hirano to cut the lead to 10-3, and Moriss would finish the seventh but then get the hook in favor of Yamamoto. The Bears tacked on 2 more in the bottom of the seventh with singles by Hakeyama, Michizono, and Iwao, who drove in a run, and a sacrifice fly by Yamato. Yamamoto pitched well in the 8th and 9th not allowing anyone to score as the Bears would finish on top, 12-3.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I did this game as a short update because I'm gonna update on Game 2 as the big update for these next couple series because I wanna shuffle up the pitching match ups a little bit. So the next update will have Game 2 as a full summary and Game 3 and Game 1 of the next series as short summaries

Sapporo -- We expected to see a pitcher's duel tonight between Yuki Karakawa and Wilson Redd and that is what we got. Redd broke out of his cold start to the season, and Karakawa continued his excellent campaign with another solid outing.

However, one team had to win the pitcher's duel, and this time it would fall to the Bears. The Bears first offense came in the fifth inning with a lead off single by Mark Wiseman and a sacrifice bunt by Yamato where Wiseman made a heads up play and took third base. Rudy Chirk followed with a ground ball single up the middle to take a 1-0 lead. Redd continued his gem heading into the 8th but made two mistakes giving up doubles to Okada and Josh Whitesell as the Marines would tie the game 1-1. Bryan Baker singled and knocked Wilson Redd out of the game, but Titus Whitberg came on and stranded Baker at third forcing Kakuzo Hirota to ground out to short. In the bottom of the 8th, the Bears found light as Maluco led off the inning with a single. However, he was picked off during Shin's at bat. The Bears thought they missed that opportunity, but Shin singled, and Ryosei Dan stepped in an smashed a 2-run homer to center, 3-1 Bears. Sari Harnish came on for the 9th and shut the door as usual for the Bears in order to earn his 2nd save of the season.

Sapporo -- The Bears bats got out to a hot start tonight, and an absolute gem from Ryohei Kiya reinforced the effort to obtain the win despite a rocky 9th inning.

Rudy Chirk led off the game by getting nailed in the shoulder on a 3-2 pitch, and Anderson Maluco followed with a base hit. Imagawa, starting at the hot corner and batting 3rd tonight, roped an RBI single, and Cody Kerb followed with an RBI single. Then Einishi grounded into a double play, scoring Imagawa, making it 3-0. The Bears would be silenced until the 4th, when Iwao, Yamato, and Chirk all singled consecutively with two outs to load the bases. Then Maluco stepped in and delivered with a two-run single, making it 5-0. In the fifth, Einishi slashed a one out double, and Guhan Kira singled him home, extending the lead to 6. Ryohei Kiya would continue to dominate all night for the Bears whenever the Buffaloes would hit. In the bottom of the seventh, Imagawa and Kerb singled back-to-back to begin the inning. After a ground out by Einishi, Michizono would single and score Imagawa to make it 7-0. Kiya would finish the top of the eighth, and be relieved of his efforts by Ryo Hidaka.

Hidaka started the ninth strong, getting a ground out by Gotoh. The next batter, Ohbiki would reach on a base hit, and Takahiro Okada would fly out to centerfield for the second out. Aaron Baldiris stepped in and doubled but Ohbiki would be held at third base. Then Dae-ho Lee stepped in and singled home Ohbiki to make it 7-1. The next batter, rookie first baseman, Yufu, smashed an RBI double cutting the lead to 7-2. Sari Harnish then entered the game to shut the door but gave up a two run single to the catcher, Itoh, making it 7-4. He then struck out the next batter, Shunta, to end the game, Bears win, 7-4.

Sapporo -- Wilson Redd pitched a gem tonight as the Bears continued their winning ways. Their offense also scorched the ball and the Bears are once again looking like the championship team they were in 2015.

The Bears got things going in the first inning once again tonight with a single from Chirk, a sac bunt by Maluco, and an RBI single by Koyano Shin. In the second, the Bears went back to bashing with a leadoff single by Imagawa and a 2-run bomb by Ryosei Dan, one of the hottest hitters in Japan. The Bears offense was held scoreless for the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and Wilson Redd matched Iwasaki for all these innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the Bears went back to banging with a leadoff single by Rudy Chirk, who then got picked off, a triple by Anderson Maluco, and back-to-back RBI doubles by Shin and Cody Kerb making it 5-0. Redd pitched a scoreless seventh, and the Bears swung fiercely again in their half of the seventh as Wiseman doubled, Yamato singled, and Chirk singled to score Wiseman making it 6-0. In the top of the eighth, Redd got in a bit of trouble giving up a single to Akashi and Hasegawa reached on an error. The next batter, Yasiel Puig, lined to second and the Bears turned the first triple play of 2016 to end the inning in a flash. In the bottom of the eighth, Cody Kerb smashed a solo bomb to add insurance to the lead, 7-0. Wilson Redd finished the shutout in the ninth inning for his first CG and shutout of 2016.

Sapporo -- This game was a very close game throughout until the eighth inning when the Bears exploded for 8 runs.

The top of the third is where the scoring would start, as the Takeya Nakamura smashed an RBI double to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the fourth, the Bears responded as Ryosei Dan hit a one-out double, and Cody Kerb bashed a two-run jack. Score 2-1. Kiya continued to pitch well for the Bears, but in the top of the seventh, Asamura and Kuriyama hit singles and Nakamura smashed a 3-run bomb to take the lead 4-2, and Kiya would exit. In the bottom of the eighth, the Bears literally went ham. Rudy Chirk led off the inning with a single. Then, Maluco grounded into a fielders choice. Koyano Shin would walk, and Ryosei Dan would deliver an RBI double, to make it 4-3. The next batter, Cody Kerb delivered at this turning point with an RBI single, to tie it at 4-4. After this at bat it seemed all of the momentum was on the Sapporo side. Imagawa smashed an RBI single, Wiseman smashed an RBI single, and Yamato singled but didn't score anyone. The bases were loaded and Rudy Chirk promptly unloaded them with a 3-run double. Then he was caught stealing to end the inning, the score was 9-4. The Lions would not go out without a fight. Andy Gates gave up singles to the first three batters of the inning, Kumichi, Asamura, and Kuriyama. Sari Harnish would come on for the save, and he struck out Takeya Nakamura. The next batter, pro hopeful, Hiroyuki Nakajima would ground into a double play to end the game, 9-4, Bears win.

"Yes, you collapsed and went into a serious coma, it was like your last one, but a lot worse. It's going to take your body a long time to recover from this, so we're going to have to keep you in the hospital for awhile."

"Can I call my wife and kids?"

"Well, I can put Henry on the line for you, but there may be a problem contacting your daughter and wife, Mr. Nathan. I'm sorry."

Over the next few days I was transported to my residence in Sapporo and accommodated with maids since I was not capable of doing anything by myself. I had been in a wheelchair since I woke up from my coma four days ago.

Henry was supposed to be coming by today after he made the flight out here from Arizona.

I had learned that while I was in my coma for twenty years a lot had happened. First of all, my wife and daughter died in a car accident with a drunk driver while going to watch one of the Bears' games in 2019. That news shattered me and I don't know if I'll ever recover. I had been constantly weeping the past three days since I learned of their passing.

The Bears also did not have much success while I was in my coma only putting together three seasons with winning records and only making the playoffs in 2018. While I was unconscious, Nick Lockhart, retired from his career in the MLB, and came back to Japan to take over as the interim General Manager. He did his best to keep the team together and keep the drama down, but he was unsuccessful and the team was sold in 2033 to an aspiring Japanese businessman, Tadano Rokogawa. The last three seasons have gone awfully as the Bears have finished last place in two of the last three years.

I assume that I still am technically eligible to return as the team's General Manager whenever I want to, as I had signed an indefinite contract when I was hired, stating that I was to remain GM until I quit or I was fired. However, after the events of the last twenty years, I'm not so sure my heart could undergo the challenge of building this team up from the ground again.

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